NBA Playoffs 2012: 7 Reasons We'll See Thunder vs. Heat in NBA Finals

Which two teams that could face each other in the 2012 NBA Finals would force casual fans to drop everything and tune in or go on YouTube to watch an incredible play? Where do the most explosive, "WOW!" factor basketball wunderkinds come from? Which two teams would blow up Twitter the quickest? Whose star players would wear the most outrageous clothes to the post-game press conferences? Which matchup would be the most polarizing?

The answer to all these questions: the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Miami Heat. This would pit a likable team that has been embraced by a city of historical hardships against the antithesis of America's team. This type of polarization is typically bad for everything else in life, but typically good for sports, and this would not be an exception to that assertion.

Headlining for the Thunder would be two Finals first-timers: 23-year-old, three-time NBA scoring champ Kevin Durant, along with his freakishly athletic point guard, fellow 23-year-old Russell Westbrook. They would be facing off against, at the very least, two of the most dominant players in the game in Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. What would give between Durant and Westbrook versus James, all vying for their first championship, with James hoping the third time is a charm?

Fans may never know how this dream digital age matchup would play out, but here are seven reasons to be optimistic that a Thunder-Heat final will become reality.

Shipping Up to Boston

The Heat haven't won in TD Garden in the regular season since the Big Three assembled. However, as the Celtics themselves have proven over the past few seasons, the playoffs are an entirely different animal. That is why the Heat's 98-90 overtime win in Game 4 of last year's Eastern Conference semifinals remains so vital.

LeBron James finally took down the giant he couldn't slay as a member of the Cavaliers, Dwyane Wade got redemption for being bounced by the Celts in the first round the previous year with an underwhelming supporting cast, Chris Bosh showed his ability to get it done when it mattered, scoring five points in the extra period, as the three Heat stars poured in all 12 points in the frame.

Although Bosh's injury in the postseason this year has been a concern, especially when the Indiana Pacers took a 2-1 lead on the Heat in the Eastern semis, Wade and James have figured it out. The team hasn't lost since this year's pivotal Game 4 of the second round.

It would be a fitting instance of parallel structure if the Heat are able to return to the Finals. Knowing they have won in Boston in the postseason and that their stars stepped up to make the victory happen will make this series winnable in six games or fewer.

Thunderous Athleticism

The slim build and explosive scoring potential of Kevin Durant and the blinding quickness of Russell Westbrook would associate them more with lightning than thunder. The latter comes after the visual of lightning, an afterthought.

Similarly, as difficult as the versatility and athleticism of the OKC's two most high-profile players is to contend with, it is will be the athleticism of the Thunder's big men, who aren't as frequently praised as the dynamic scorers, that will prove pivotal.

The Spurs got away with Game 1 at home largely because Kendrick Perkins was in foul trouble early in the game. As Thunder writer SB Nation JA Sherman points out, Perkins had a smaller impact than he is capable of but still managed to hold Tim Duncan to just 6-of-15 shooting.

In the fourth quarter, the Spurs shot 75 percent en route to 39 points to the Thunder's 27. San Antonio was able to get to the basket more frequently, in part due to Perkins playing cautiously.

When not in foul trouble, the combination of Perkins and prolific shot-blocker Serge Ibaka is devastating. Ibaka is averaging a league-best 3.5 blocks per game in the playoffs, and his presence can counter Tony Parker's penchant for penetrating the paint.

As the series wears on against the aging Tim Duncan and the likes of Boris Diaw and Tiago Splitter, this advantage will become more apparent. The Thunder simply have the bigger, stronger, quicker, faster and more physical frontcourt.

Heat Check: LeBron's Mental Toughness

Does LeBron James have the desire to win a ring? Will Dwyane Wade and the rest of the supporting cast have to shoulder all the weight for James to get to pro basketball's pinnacle?

Sports talking heads love to use their influential platform to attempt to pseudo-psychoanalyze what goes on game by game, with knee-jerk reactions and assertions about a player's mental makeup. The aforementioned questions in particular generate plenty of buzz when the NBA is discussed.

As James prowls for his first NBA championship, he is wearing a Roman numeral "XVI" mouth guard, signifying how many wins it will take in the postseason to win the NBA Finals. This would indicate an outward demonstration of desire to accomplish just that.

However, I am not in James's head. I don't know what's going on. I just know that he has fallen short in the playoffs numerous times, and it has been largely blamed on his lack of mental toughness, according to Skip Bayless and numerous other writers and pundits who are not qualified to give such an assessment in the least.

I have a simpler explanation: James didn't get it done. For whatever reason, he was not his physical self on the basketball court during the NBA Finals last season, and it factored into the Heat losing the series. I am not going to sit here and speculate about his brain, will power, desire and heart.

If I had those questions, I would ask James personally rather than assume certain things and defame him in the public arena, and if he didn't answer my questions, I wouldn't make any conjecture since it would be an irresponsible jump to a possible false conclusion.

ESPN's Mark Schlereth stated on a SportsCenter broadcast that it is one of the worst insults to a player to question his or her mental toughness or to call them "soft."

Many NBA fans remember LeBron taking mental notes from all the people giving him grief. He's certainly heard the criticism after falling short in the Finals last year, and judging by the only tangible evidence I can discern (the mouth guard), I can logically infer he is motivated to not fall short again.

Manu-a-Manu

Manu Ginobili is renowned for his high basketball IQ, crafty moves to work his way into the paint and also the versatility to spread the floor with his exceptional perimeter game. He has won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award multiple times in his NBA career and has served as a valuable catalyst for many competitive and championship Spurs teams.

Oftentimes, Ginobili is an "X factor" against many of the Spurs' opponents, but not against the Thunder.

James Harden plays a very similar role for OKC and was himself the recipient of this year's Sixth Man of the Year award. Harden is a younger, more explosive and more athletic version of Ginobili, who has been plagued by injuries the past few seasons and missed every game against the Thunder in the regular season.

Missing the prior meetings didn't stop Ginobili from getting the best of Game 1, as he scored a season-best 26 points on only 14 shots. Harden struggled, sinking just one of his first nine shots from the floor. By the time he got going offensively, it was too little too late.

As exceptional as both of these players are, this duel shouldn't be so one-sided moving forward. Even with Ginobili upstaging Harden on Sunday night, the Thunder lost by only three points. Harden's play should certainly improve as the series progresses. When that happens, expect the outcome to favor the Thunder in the end. Harden should at the very least neutralize Ginobili's impact.

Therefore, advantage: Thunder.

Ray Allen: MIA

MIA does not refer to the abbreviation typically used for "Miami" nor the famous recording artist. Rather, Ray has been MIA: missing in action.

Allen is 36 years old, and while the Celtics have been criticized for their age, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce aren't playing like they're totally past their primes. However, Allen is, and without the exceptional play of second-year guard Avery Bradley, who retained the starting job he took from Allen while Allen was nursing an injury, the Celtics are in big trouble against the Heat.

Bad luck struck when Bradley continually dislocated his shoulder in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and the team announced he would have season-ending surgery to repair it.

Allen is now back in the starting lineup playing with bone spurs in his right ankle, which has to be contributing to his abysmal postseason shooting: 39 percent from the field, and just 26 percent from three-point range. Allen, a career 89 percent free-throw shooter, is only hitting 60 percent of his attempts in the postseason. He hasn't literally been missing in action, but he's far from his usual sharpshooting self.

With Keyon Dooling and sprinkles of Marquis Daniels and E'Twaun Moore providing the only remaining depth at guard, the Heat should exploit that weakness effectively. Bradley played tough defense on the perimeter. He made life difficult for opponents' top scorers in isolation situations, which would have been invaluable against a Heat team with two of the game's best perimeter-oriented isolation players.

None of the remaining Celtics guards are at all known for their defense besides Rajon Rondo. If Allen can't get his legs under him at least offensively, and the other guards don't significantly enhance their play, this series will be over sooner rather than later.

The Spurs' Depth Myth

The Spurs were able to play 12 players for big minutes during the regular season, which allowed the veterans Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili to rest, sometimes taking games completely off.

The starting lineup for the Spurs in the playoffs is Duncan, Boris Diaw, Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and Parker. The middle three sandwiched between the two stars don't thoroughly impress me.

Diaw shamelessly jumped ship on the Charlotte Bobcats after his contract was bought out and had time to adjust to his new, title-contending team. Diaw has had a solid postseason statistically but now faces his toughest playoff test, matched up with Serge Ibaka.

Leonard, a first-round pick out of San Diego State, has enjoyed an impressive rookie campaign but has not been on a stage like this, against a team like the Thunder, playing with this much intensity. Again, far be it from me to question a player's mental makeup, but he has less experience than the young players on the Thunder.

Danny Green blossomed as a young player in the Spurs' system this year after being waived by the Cavaliers in 2010 and bouncing around the NBA Developmental League thereafter. He missed all six shots he took in Sunday's Game 1, hounded by OKC's Thabo Sefolosha. That could be a trend as this series progresses.

Beyond Ginobili off the bench, the Spurs have Matt Bonner, who only brings streaky three-point shooting to the floor, and Tiago Splitter, who benefited from a foul-plagued Perkins on Monday. Stephen Jackson recently joined the fold, but he is not contributing as much as he's capable of, and he'll have to put his prior playoff experience to better use.

The only players absolutely reliable for the Spurs are the three star veterans and backup point guard Gary Neal, who has been phenomenal offensively in the postseason. Meanwhile, the Thunder have six players who are younger and have more playoff experience and talent than the Spurs' younger players.

Playoffs call for rotational and strategic adjustments on the fly, and as the regular season loudly reinforced, if anyone can pull that off, it's Gregg Popovich.

However, the personnel for OKC has been the same the entire year, with the exception of the early, season-ending injury for backup point guard Eric Maynor. This gives Thunder coach Scott Brooks the opportunity to observe how Popovich will use his personnel to counter Brooks' consistent rotation and lineups.

While the Spurs' vets have years of chemistry built, a team is only as good as its weakest link, and the Spurs have weaker links of the inexperienced players in their rotation than the Thunder do.

The Thunder are, surprisingly, the deeper team.

Star Influence on Whistleblowers

In media, whistleblowers are wonderful people that serve a democracy as its Fourth Estate, keeping the public as informed as possible and serving as watchdogs for wrongdoing, corruption and evil.

In sports events, quite the opposite is true. Whistleblowers, commonly referred to as referees or officials, are often chastised, accused of bad eyesight and called names typically reserved for a select few that have committed horrific crimes against humanity.

In the NBA, officials are heavily criticized, and I tend to agree with this criticism with respect to how outcomes of games lean too heavily on how many fouls are called in the modern era, and there seem to be box scores every week that show teams attempting 40 to 50 free throws in one game.

Whistles in sports can even be due to an official's sensitivity, as Boston fans sadly witnessed in Monday's Game 1. Neutral fans on Twitter also expressed their distaste for questionably assessed technical fouls.

More pertinently, this NBA whistleblowing epidemic is due in large part to rule changes that favor the offensive side of the ball, but also due beneficial treatment of higher-profile players.

Superstars yelp, act like they got hit and dramatize their move to the basket to draw a foul. It works too often, and once a player establishes himself in getting those calls, it's all downhill.

Let's look at the players who had the most free-throw attempts per game this past season:

3. LeBron James (8.5 FTA, .771 percent)

5. Kevin Durant (7.6 FTA, .860 percent)

9. Russell Westbrook (6.3 FTA, .823 percent)

12. Dwyane Wade (6.1 FTA, .791 percent)

13. James Harden (6.0 FTA, .846 percent)

Then...

17. Paul Pierce

33. Tony Parker

40. Tim Duncan

No one else on the Spurs or Celtics cracks the top 50. Sure, the first five players listed are among the best at creating their own shot and getting to the rim in the entire NBA. However, even Michael Jordan averaged only 8.2 free-throw attempts per game in his illustrious career, the majority of which he played in a much more physical era.

The whistles chirping shouldn't have so much of an effect on the outcome of a game, but it should in both these conference finals series if the above statistics are any indicator.

The Thunder and Heat ranked fourth and fifth respectively in opponent field goal percentage, which proves both can contest shots among the best in the league. In turn, the aforementioned standout players will get bailed out more often than not when crashing the rim, while the Spurs and Celtics don't have the same number of players that can effectively use that to their advantage.

But don't you want a Thunder-Heat 2012 NBA Finals?

If this dream matchup does take place, hopefully the whistleblowers can pocket their high-pitched devices a few more times than usual along the way.